


two hands longing for each other's warmth

by bodhirookes



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Late at Night, M/M, Winter, also tag yourself i'm absolutely taekwoon or mark in this situation, also why is changkyun such a little shit yikes, anyway this is 8k of mx being a mess, basically all of monsta x are disaster gays lol, somehow jooheon and min are the only ones who know how to get their shit together???, there are some implied relationships here too like markson and jjp and yugbam and namjin and wontaek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 17:55:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13862883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bodhirookes/pseuds/bodhirookes
Summary: “What’s going on?” Hyungwon asks.“Fire alarm, you sleepy dumbass.” Changkyun tells him, and Hyungwon doesn’t even comment on his attitude. “We tried to wake you up for like, ten minutes, and finally Jooheon-hyung made me help you downstairs. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into it.”Hyungwon makes another low, rumbly noise. “Should’ve just left me. It was probably my time to go.”-Jooheon has the utmost pleasure of waking up to Changkyun's cranky face and the fire alarm going off in their apartment building at 3 am. It somehow ends in him vowing to protect Hyunwoo's life and lending Hyungwon's jacket to a stranger.





	two hands longing for each other's warmth

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! This is my first (completed) Monsta X and I'm super excited to be posting it!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ 
> 
> One of the best Monebebs I know aka Olive aka the loml put me into this group chat on Twitter where we were all supposed to pick a MX ship and put them into the unanimous prompt "It's 3 am in the middle of winter and the fire alarm is going off" and I picked Joohyuk!!!! So here we are!!!! 
> 
> Thank you to Olive for making this even happen and introducing me to Monsta X and showing me the light that is Monbebe and being the best support system in the world. Also thanks to my friend Sae for showing me the light that is Lee Minhyuk and driving up to see me on the weekends to talk about Monaegi over yukgaejang (which makes a cameo in the fic!!! bc I'm obsessed w yukgaejang!!!) 
> 
> I hope yall enjoy it and no one sounds OOC since it's pretty much my first time writing all of the boys together in a fic. Also justice for Gunhee since I kind of accidentally left him out of game night :c Sorry bubby 
> 
> Title comes from the song Still by Daughter

Jooheon has just started giving his speech when something goes wrong.

There’s some loud, obnoxious noise coming from the back of the room, and everyone attending the event has turned away from the stage to look at it. Jooheon feels put out, and can also feel Gunhee and Changkyun moving restlessly on either side of him. _Of course_ something had to go wrong when they were in the middle of winning the award for the best album of the year.

It looks like it might be a security issue, and when Jooheon squints over the stage lights, he can see a security guard wrestling their way through the door at the back of the venue. When he lifts his hand up, he sees that it’s Hyungwon dressed as a security guard, but before he can ask what his friend is doing there, Hyungwon begins to speak. The noise spills from his mouth instead of words, and somewhere through this confusing fog, Jooheon realizes that it’s an alarm. The loud, obtrusive kind that’s more than a phone alarm, and it only gets louder as Hyungwon struggles through the crowd and keeps making the noise and pointing at Jooheon on stage. When he makes it to the foot of the stairs, Hyungwon gestures towards Changkyun and makes more alarm noises, and for some reason, Changkyun understands him perfectly, because he’s grabbing Jooheon by the shoulders and turning him around and-

“ _Hyung_ , holy shit, please wake up.”  

Jooheon finally jerks awake and is met by Changkyun’s tired, annoyed face. After a few moments of confusion, he finally recognizes that the fire alarm is going off in their apartment building and was the noise appearing inside of his dream.

“Are we dying?” he asks, still half asleep, and Changkyun leans away so that Jooheon can struggle up into a sitting position. 

“I don’t know. I hope so. But Hyungwon-hyung won’t get up and his parents will be pissed if we leave him here and he catches on fire.”

“I’m shocked.” Jooheon sighs and pushes himself out of bed; through the haze of his dream and the abrasive sound of the fire alarm, he manages to pull on a hoodie and shove his feet into some shoes without tipping over. “I was dreaming that you, me, and Gunhee got the album of the year award at MMA, Changkyunnie." 

“That’s great stuff.” Changkyun replies, clearly unimpressed. “Let’s go get the noodle.”

They shuffle out of Jooheon's room and go to Hyungwon’s at the other end of the hallway. Changkyun kicks the door open and Jooheon guesses that he’s already spent a copious amount of time trying to wake their other friend up.

“Hyungwon-hyung, get your ass up or we’re going to die.” Changkyun shouts, and pauses to pick up Hyungwon’s journal. He chucks it at Hyungwon, but all it does it bounce ineffectively off of his back. When he doesn’t so much as twitch, Changkyun turns back to Jooheon. “There’s probably not a real fire. Let’s just go outside and hope for the best.”

Jooheon gives him a flat look. “No. I’ll get his right side and you come around and get his left when I’ve got his feet on the ground.”

Changkyun squints, but does as he’s told. Jooheon goes up to Hyungwon’s bed and carelessly yanks the covers off of him, unsympathetic to his whining and mumbling. He gets an arm under Hyungwon’s back and uses every single bit of his strength to pull him up into a sitting position, and then uses his other arm to pull Hyungwon’s legs towards the edge of his bed. Hyungwon looks like a doll, limbs in every direction and hair a fucking disaster, and Jooheon would laugh if he wasn’t so cranky. 

“C’mon, Kyun.”

Changkyun moves to get Hyungwon’s right side, and somehow, they get him out of bed and are able to start dragging him towards their front door. Changkyun pauses to grab a jacket for him and Hyungwon and put both of their shoes on, Jooheon helping to lift Hyungwon up as needed, and then they’re out of the door with the keys in Jooheon’s hoodie. There are a few others stumbling out of their apartments, including their next door neighbor, Kihyun, and his roommate, Yoongi.

“Wow, you guys got Hyungwon out of bed?” Kihyun asks, smiling despite the unfortunate circumstances. “I’m impressed.”

Changkyun grouches back: “Don’t be. He’s still asleep- we’re relying on sheer anger to drag his big body with us downstairs. I wanted to leave him behind but Jooheon-hyung used his morals or whatever to make me help him save hyung’s ass.”

“Should’ve just left him to die,” Yoongi pipes up, and Jooheon has never seen someone with such deep, dark circles under their eyes in his entire life. He doesn’t know if he should be amazed or concerned. “I wish Kihyun would have just left me to die.”

“I still can.”

Yoongi makes a face, and Kihyun makes one back, and Jooheon tries not to laugh at whatever time it is in the morning because he values his life.

Jooheon sees that same life flash before his eyes when they reach the stairs leading from the third floor down to the first and Changkyun starts swearing under his breath about the elevators being shut down.

“Can’t believe he’s still fucking asleep after getting dragged across the entire goddamn hallway,” Changkyun mutters, watching the stairs intently. Jooheon silently prays that they won’t accidentally drop Hyungwon down all three flights. “The next time he wants to take a nap I’m gonna hide that stupid blanket he loves and watch him try to find it for hours and hours.” 

“I wish Hoseok-hyung was here to just piggyback him down to the front doors,” Jooheon tells him, mostly to see if Changkyun is also talking to him or just to himself.

Hyungwon mumbles something unintelligible, arms tightening around both of their shoulders, and Jooheon and Changkyun’s eyes meet over his shoulders. The lightbulb goes off between them at once.

“Hey, Hyungwonnie,” Changkyun cooes right in his ear. “Hoseok-hyung’s here to see you.”

Hyungwon’s eyes start to move behind his eyelids, and then his feet are finally on the floor and working to help them get down the stairs. 

Jooheon adds, “You have to wake up so he can hug you hello,” and Hyungwon’s eyes open for the briefest moment before ultimately closing again. Jooheon counts it as a victory since Hyungwon’s entire body weight isn’t resting on them anymore.

When they struggle down the final set of stairs, only made possible by Hyungwon’s semi-consciousness, Changkyun groans. “I wish Hoseok-hyung was actually here. I’m never doing this again.”

“I think it’s funny that that’s what got him to wake up.” Jooheon giggles, still quiet enough not to disturb the tentative peace between all the other residents; a few others have joined them on their way outside, including Jaebum and Jinyoung from the 3rd floor, as well, and Mark and Jackson from the 2nd floor. Jooheon knows it must literally be ass o’clock in the morning because Jackson looks like he would rather be doing anything else than herding together with all of their neighbors when he’s usually ready to spend 10 hours talking to any of them on any given day.

“It’s bullshit is what it is, but whatever.” Changkyun tries to look pissed, but it’s obvious to exactly everyone in the world that he has a huge soft spot for Hoseok. “Hoseok-hyung can babysit him from now on.”

Another mention of Hoseok and them stepping out into the cold winter morning is what finally rouses Hyungwon. He blinks his eyes open and walks steadily and brings a hand up from Jooheon’s shoulders to rub his face.

“What’s going on?” he asks (the only reason Jooheon knows what he asked is because he’s lived with him for so long, since Hyungwon’s deep voice sounds like a malfunctioning garbage disposal in the morning).

“Fire alarm, you sleepy dumbass.” Changkyun tells him, and Hyungwon doesn’t even comment on his attitude. “We tried to wake you up for like, ten minutes, and finally Jooheon-hyung made me help you downstairs. We put our blood, sweat, and tears into it.”

Hyungwon makes another low, rumbly noise. “Should’ve just left me. It was probably my time to go.”

Changkyun sweeps a hand out in front of himself, and gives Jooheon a look that clearly says _I fucking told you so._ He looks extremely put out by their hard work amounting to nothing- Jooheon would almost feel bad if they honestly didn’t know if the fire was real or not.

So. 

“It could have been real, Changkyun, just let it go.”

Kihyun materializes from the throngs of people exiting the building, almost as if Jooheon bitching back at Changkyun is his metaphorical shining beacon in the darkness. He instantly puts an arm around the Changkyun’s waist, and Hyungwon peers down at him from where he’s still slung across both of their shoulders. 

“Don’t be mean to him, Jooheon.” Kihyun smiles at Changkyun in a way that is _definitely_ too much to process at the ungodly hour. “He worked so hard to save Hyungwon’s ass for nothing- show him a little mercy.”

Changkyun looks over at Jooheon with the smuggest expression he’s ever seen. It’s lessened by the fact that Jooheon knows it’s his way of hiding his heart eyes for Kihyun from the boy in question.

“See? Hyung gets it.”

“Hyung’s in love with you,” Hyungwon tells him point-blank, finally taking his arms off of them. “I’d take your side too if I wanted to marry you or suck your dick.”

During their many months of friendship, Jooheon has learned how to see through Kihyun’s insane poker face- mainly whenever someone calls him out on having a crush on Changkyun- so he’s able to see the rising panic through the sudden wall of indifference.

He’s not surprised a single bit when Kihyun fires back: “Oh? That sounds like you’re speaking from experience.”

Hyungwon raises his eyebrows, but before he can ask what Kihyun is implying, another piece of their group finally finds them.

“I’m pretty sure I’m already feeling the beginning stages of hypothermia,” comes from Jooheon’s left, and then Hoseok is in front of them, pushing into Kihyun’s space. “Kihyun-ah, use your small and fiery personality to warm me up.” 

“Shut the fuck up. You’re only two inches taller than me on a good day.” Kihyun kicks him in the back of the leg, and Hoseok dodges it easily. “And I still don’t understand how you can be so bulky and only have the heat retention of a piece of styrofoam. Go mooch off of someone else- since I’m so _tiny_ you’ll probably steal all of my body heat and kill me instantly.”

Hoseok laughs cutely and bounces out of Kihyun’s personal space; Kihyun moves closer to Changkyun in an way to also distance himself from Hoseok and his ridiculously peppy attitude, and Jooheon almost loses it when he sees Changkyun’s face go from winter-pink to full on drunk-red.

Jooheon foolishly expects himself to be the next target since he’s almost the same height as Hoseok and said to be the warmest person he’s ever met. Instead, Hoseok immediately moves his attention to a very sleepy, dazed Hyungwon, and a cooing noise seems to leave his mouth almost involuntarily.

“Aw, you’re shivering, Hyungwonnie.”

“It is, like, 10 degrees outside right now, hyung,” Hyungwon laughs, and then shudders violently; Jooheon wonders how much of it is is real and how much is him hamming it up. “I didn’t grab a jacket on the way out.”

“Because you were still unconscious.” Jooheon reminds him.

Changkyun shifts in Kihyun’s hold to produce Hyungwon’s jacket for him to put on. “I actually grabbed it on our way out of th-”

“Good thing this coat is big on me!” Hoseok cheers over Jooheon and Changkyun, and before any of them really know what’s going on, he’s is stepping up to Hyungwon and pulling him into a huge embrace. Hyungwon’s arms get tucked under Hoseok’s jacket until the puffy black material is completely shrouding both of them and Hyungwon’s chin is placed comfortably on top of Hoseok’s head.

Hyungwon looks like he’s going to spontaneously combust. Changkyun, having recovered from Kihyun’s touching, looks like he’s going to start cracking up.  

“There- isn’t that better?” 

Hyungwon makes a sound that’s somewhere in between a mouse being stepped on and an odd gurgling noise. “Sure.”

The other three boys stare at them for a few good moments, Hoseok humming happily and Hyungwon trying to keep his two feet on the ground. Jooheon looks over at Changkyun and Kihyun a few times to gauge their reactions or to exchange incredulous looks, but once he realizes that Kihyun has yet to remove his arm from Changkyun’s waist, he stops.

“I’m going to see if anyone knows anything,” he announces, mostly to break the weird, stuffy atmosphere. “You four freaks have fun.”

Hyungwon shoots him an alarmed look over Hoseok’s platinum blonde head, and Changkyun just scowls, but Jooheon sticks to his gut instinct to walk away and heads out towards the other side of the parking lot they’re all standing in.

Jackson looks a little more awake and ready to go, so Jooheon starts with him.

“This is some good shit, isn’t it?” is what Jooheon opens with, and Jackson snorts; he and Mark are pressed ankle to shoulder in an attempt to stay warm, and Mark looks like he could fall asleep standing up.

“Yeah, really thrilling.” Jackson giggles at him some more. “Got any ideas?”

“I bet it was Seokjin-hyung on the 2nd floor- you know how he’s _always_ testing out the shit he learns at that culinary school downtown. Maybe something went wrong?”

“Nah- he’s a genius. He’s probably never even burned a piece of toast.”

“You’re right- you got any ideas?”

“Maybe Jinyoungie? I know you guys live close together- he might have been up late reading and set it off trying to make tea or something stupid.”

“No, I don’t think so- I passed by him and Jaebum-hyung on the way down here and Jinyoung-hyung looked like he was going to kill whoever breathed near him next.”

Jackson nods and laughs, but then lets Jooheon down easy. “I’m sorry, then I’m not really sure who it could have been.”

Jooheon looks over at Mark. “You got anything, hyung?”

Mark shakes his head. “Sorry, Jooheonie. I honestly don’t even really know what my name is right now.” 

“Okay, I’ll go see if anyone else knows. See you guys later!”

After promising to come over for lunch or dinner sometime this upcoming weekend, Jooheon drifts away from them and heads over to another duo or cluster of people he knows. Since Jooheon knows and is friends with almost the entire damn building, he stops to talk often, but all of his conversations go much the same way as his conversation with Mark and Jackson. No one knows who it was, but they have some ideas that could be true.

“I bet it was Hakyeon-hyung stress-making cupcakes,” Sanghyuk from the 1st floor says, and his roommate, Hongbin, just nods in silent agreement.

When he runs into Yugyeom and his roommate, they also thinks it was Jinyoung. “Don’t be fooled by his grumpy face, hyung- I bet he was making something to eat while he and Jaebum-hyung were watching a movie and they started making out and let it go and now we’re all stuck out here like idiots. 

BamBam also adds in a most unneeded: “It’s not the first time it’s happened.” under his breath.

Jooheon sees the previously accused Seokjin some time after talking to Youngjae and Jimin, two boys from the 3rd floor, and doesn’t hesitate to confront him on it. “Seokjin-hyung, did you do this? I know how you are with cooking.”

Seokjin gives him a cheesy smile. “Actually, no! Namjoonie and I were in the middle of-”

“Alright, good night, hyung,” Jooheon doesn’t wait to see what exactly Seokjin and Namjoon were up to, and based on the thumbs up that Jeongguk and Taehyung from the 2nd floor flash him behind Seokjin’s back, he’s eternally grateful.

Jooheon talks to a few other people. Jaehwan, Hakyeon’s roommate, confirms that they were both dead asleep when the fire alarm went off; Jooheon eventually works up the courage to go up to Jaebum and Jinyoung, but they both say they were also also asleep; he even finds Sewoon from the 3rd floor curled up against someone’s car, dozing off, but doesn’t interrogate him, just asks if he’s doing okay and makes a mental reminder to ask Kihyun if they should make more cookies and check up on him soon.

Long story fucking short, Jooheon doesn’t discover any new information, and eventually forces himself to go back to his roommates and their not-boyfriend boyfriends.

When he gets back to his friends, Hyungwon and Hoseok have relocated to the sidewalk, where they’re still cuddled up underneath Hoseok’s fluffy winter jacket, and Changkyun has surrendered and put his own arm around Kihyun’s shoulders. They’re all looking up at and talking quietly with their friend Hyunwoo, who lives on the 1st floor but spends most of his time on the 3rd floor with them. 

Jooheon grins and opens his mouth to greet him (since his soft spot for Hyunwoo rivals Changkyun’s for Hoseok) but pauses before he can. There’s something off about Hyunwoo, who is usually calm and soft-looking; Jooheon sees that his shoulders are hunched up, and his hands won’t stop rubbing the back of his neck or being used for Hyunwoo to wring them out, and his facial expression resembles that of someone who got caught stealing something.

He looks… guilty.

Jooheon cuts off whatever sassy comment Changkyun is making towards Hyungwon to say: “It was you, wasn’t it, Hyunwoo-hyung?”

Hyunwoo’s guilty expression turns to him immediately, and his hands come up like they’re going to clap themselves over Jooheon’s mouth. “Don’t say it so _loud_ , Jooheon- everyone’s going to kill me if they find out!”

“ _When_ they find out.” Kihyun tells him, and Hyunwoo flashes his puppy dog eyes at him. “Hyung, don’t- you can’t undo this by making everyone cry.”

Jooheon sighs. “What did you even do?” 

His hands go back to his neck and side. “I-I was trying to cram for my Econ exam and got hungry? So I tried to make something in the oven but then I fell asleep at my desk while it was baking and it just- I didn’t know it was burning until the alarm started going off.”

Now Jooheon feels like the guilty one- they all know how hard Hyunwoo works to maintain his GPA in between double majoring and working and doing volunteer work, and how burned out he gets sometimes. They’ve all expressed to each other and Hyunwoo on many occasions that they think he’s overworking himself and should take more breaks or let them take care of him for a while, and Hyunwoo always tries to play it off. Jooheon can just imagine him being bent over his Economics textbook for hours and hours and wanting a snack to get him through and ending with setting the fire alarm off at whatever time it is. 

It honestly makes his heart squeeze a little in his chest. 

Jooheon walks closer to Hyunwoo and pats him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, hyung. Don’t feel bad. It was bound to happen at some point, whether it be you or Kihyun-hyung or Seokjin-hyung.” 

“I saw you talking to Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, so Hakyeon-hyung better be on that list too, Lee Jooheon.”

Jooheon makes a face at Kihyun, but adds “Yes, he’s on the list, _Mom_.”

Hoseok laughs at them, and Jooheon takes a second to grimace down at him and Hyungwon; Hoseok looks to be made entirely out of sunshine since Hyungwon’s long body is wrapped around him, and Hyungwon looks like nothing less than a pleased, warm cat, an easy smile on his big lips. 

Hyunwoo suddenly takes both of his hands between his own, and when Jooheon looks up at him, he almost laughs too. Hyunwoo looks like a scolded child. “You’re gonna let me stay with you guys, right? Even though it was my fault?”

Jooheon lets himself laugh. “Of course, Hyunwoo-hyung. It’s not that serious- look, Hyungwon and Hoseok-hyung get to canoodle in public, Kihyun-hyung got to put the moves on Changkyun- everyone wins tonight. Don’t sweat it.”

Kihyun gives him a light kick to the butt and Hoseok slaps the part that Kihyun’s foot misses, but no one objects to his statement. 

Hyunwoo lets out an audible sigh of relief. “Thank you so much. I thought I was actually going to die tonight.” He leans in closer to them, and drops his voice down to a whisper. “I heard that Taekwoon-hyung from my floor actually vowed to shed the blood of whoever set the alarm off if he found out who did it, and the only thing that’s saving me from him is Wonshik.”

Jooheon remembers seeing Taekwoon and Wonshik on his quest through all of residents of their building, but also remembers skipping over them because of Taekwoon’s grouchy, scowly face. He doesn’t put this vow of bloodshed past Taekwoon for a single moment.

He squeezes Hyunwoo’s hands back. “We’ll protect you. I swear on my life.”

Even with the reassurance that his friends aren’t mad, Hyunwoo does still look really guilty and completely exhausted, so they try to keep the conversation light. Kihyun talks about his and Yoongi’s (who slipped away to go sleep in his car) failed attempt to study for their Biology midterm, and Changkyun offers to tutor him. This leads to them all trying to, once again, get Changkyun and Kihyun to confess their feelings for each other, which leads into trying to get Hyungwon and Hoseok to confess, which leads to them asking Jooheon if he and Gunhee are also secretly dating, which leads to Jooheon saying that he bets if Gunhee lived in their building that they could easily blame the fire alarm on him and no one would be surprised. 

Somewhere in between throwing one of his best friends under the bus and teasing his other one about his infatuation with their hyung, Jooheon ends up looking around the parking lot again. At first, it’s him trying to see if the fire department or even the police are coming towards their building- which is a guessing game all in itself since they all live in the busier part of Seoul where sirens and loud city noises are 24 hour occurrences. It then turns into him seeing how many of their building mates have gone back to sleep on the sidewalk or bundled up against their friends/roommates, and itching to take a picture of BamBam completely sprawled out across Yugyeom’s lap. And then-

And then Jooheon sees him. Some straggler towards the back of the lot, all alone, trying to huddle up against the side of someone’s car without setting the alarm off. He’s folded into himself, knees pulled up and arms between them and his chest, and even from several yards away, Jooheon can see that he’s not wearing a jacket and is shivering.

For a few seconds, Jooheon stares over at him, and then for a few more seconds, looks down at where Hyungwon is comfortably tucked into Hoseok’s side and where his jacket is comfortably tucked into Changkyun’s arms. 

“Hey, Hyungwonnie- there’s some guy out here without a coat. Can I go give him yours since you’re- _all set_.”

Hyungwon looks like he wants to get annoyed again, but in the end, just gives him a pleased smile and gives him the go ahead. “Tell him he can bring it back to us tomorrow.”

Jooheon grabs the jacket from Changkyun and starts hobbling over all the ice and snow to get to where the other person is. As he gets closer, he sees that the guy’s only wearing a thin pajama shirt and pants, and slippers that are now pretty wet from the snow, and is basically vibrating from how much he’s shivering. His face is buried completely in his arms to shield it from the wind, and Jooheon wonders how long he’s been like this.

He approaches slowly so he doesn’t scare the other guy. When he gets close enough, he quietly clears his throat and lets out an equally quiet “Um, excuse me?”

The person looks up at him, and Jooheon sees that his teeth are chattering uncontrollably. _Jesus and God, dude._

Jooheon smiles softly at him. “Hi. I, uh- I saw that you didn’t have a jacket over here, and we grabbed an extra on the way out, so I just wanted to bring it over and let you borrow it since it’s, like, subzero out here.”

He expects a lot of things to happen after offering Hyungwon’s jacket to this random guy. He expects him to thank Jooheon and take it for the night, or to shrug it off and say he’s okay and will power through, or maybe to burst into tears and pledge allegiance to Jooheon for the rest of time for his thoughtfulness.

What he doesn’t expect is for him to smile like the fucking sun and immediately hop to his feet like some kind of possessed slinky.

“Oh my god, thank you!” the guy says, too cheery for the late hour, and he grabs Jooheon’s shoulders with icy, probably numb fingers. Seeing his smile up close is quickly reaching fatal levels. “I-I can’t even begin to thank you. Holy shit, I can’t feel any part of my body. Are you sure someone else doesn’t need it? God, I’m actually going to cry-”

And Jooheon feels, with no little amount of certainty, that he’s just royally fucked himself over.

What he thinks is an amazed look on his face must resemble something else to this guy, because he quickly simmers down. His smile goes from blinding to soft and grateful, then laughs under his breath a little, and Jooheon might be going into cardiac arrest.

“Sorry,” he breathes. “I get hyper when I’m trying to stay warm or awake. I didn’t mean to yell.” 

Jooheon feels a traitorous smile breaking out across his face. “It’s okay.”

“Actually, I’m always hyper. It’s not really something I can turn off.” He looks down at where Hyungwon’s coat is bundled up against Jooheon’s chest, and purses his lips. “Are you sure no one else is using it? I’m sure we won’t be out here for that long- I can deal with it if someone needs your jacket.” 

As soon as the words leave his mouth, a huge gust of wind cuts through the parking lot and almost blows the guy over. There’s a collective round of moans and shouts from everyone else, and a few curses, but the stranger in front of Jooheon _whimpers_ through his chattering teeth and instinctually presses closer to him, and yeah-

Jooheon’s made either the best or worst mistake of his life.

“No offense, but you look like you’re going to keel over and die in about three seconds if you don’t get into some warmer clothes. I promise no one’s using this jacket.”

Jooheon holds it out for him, and after a few seconds of staring at it and Jooheon, the guy takes it from him with trembling fingers. He fumbles with the zipper like a starving man trying to rip a bag of chips open, until Jooheon wordlessly reaches out and undoes it for him. Jooheon hesitates for a split second, and then proceeds to help him into the jacket, as well, and even goes as far as to zip it up for him. 

_Real smooth, Jooheon. You’re no fucking better than Kihyun-hyung._

He half expects the guy to thank him again and go back to huddling against this random car, but, once again, is proven very wrong. As soon as the jacket is settled around the guy’s shoulders, he lets out a very loud groan of satisfaction, and while Jooheon is trying not to have a meltdown, he leans forward and _gives Jooheon a hug._  

“Thank you so much, seriously!” he says, still shaking like a leaf, and clings to Jooheon’s shoulders. “I owe you my life and my mom’s.” 

Before Jooheon can say something stupid or eternally damning, or entertain the idea of _hugging back_ , he’s released from the hug and back to looking at this adorably friendly dude and his equally adorable smile.

“No problem,” Jooheon tells him, smiling, when all he can think in his head is a long, endless stream of _cute cute cute cute cute cu-_

The guy suddenly laughs. “God, I just realized that we don’t even know each other’s names. I wouldn’t even know who to give this back to! I’m Minhyuk! I live on the 1st floor.” 

A switch flips in Jooheon’s head. “ _Oh,_ you’re Minhyuk- I’m friends with Hyunwoo-hyung, and he’s told us about you a few times! And all the other shit people get up to on the 1st floor.”

Minhyuk laughs. “Wow, no kidding! So I’m, like, the elusive Lee Minhyuk in your friend group? That’s pretty fucking cool.” 

Jooheon feels himself blurt out “Not so much elusive as mysterious, since you’re so-”

He cuts himself off before he finishes the sentence; holy shit, Minhyuk’s going to think he’s so rude when he makes Jooheon tell him what he was going to say, what the fuck, why is he like this- 

“Loud?” Minhyuk supplies, and Jooheon’s face flushes. Minhyuk just laughs again. “Oh, I know. It took me a few times to get him to talk and warm up to me, but once I get into someone’s comfort zone, I stick there. So watch your back-” 

Minhyuk looks at him pointedly, and for a moment, Jooheon just stares back like an idiot. It’s not until Minhyuk’s brilliant smile starts to creep back that he realizes that he never told Minhyuk his own fucking name. 

“Jooheon,” he supplies, after too much time.

“Watch your back, Jooheon. I’m just as much charm as I am volume.”

Usually, when people flirt with Jooheon or say things in a flirty way, he stutters and makes messes and generally turns into the human embodiment of jello. But there’s something about Minhyuk’s huge smile and fluffy hair that turns the flirting into something less intimidating more endearing.

So he ends up grinning back. “I’m sure. Do you want to come sit with us while we wait to go back in? Hyunwoo-hyung’s with us, and he’s got a funny story that you’ll probably enjoy.”

On their way back to the other five, Jooheon and Minhyuk chatter back and forth about some basics. Minhyuk is a junior, a Communications major (“Wow, I’m shocked that you’re going to do nothing but talk for the rest of your life.” “Shut up, we can’t all be Music majors.”), is in a handful of clubs, like the official club for all Communications majors and the LGBTQ+ club, and has a strange obsession with one of the dining halls on campus. 

“Listen,” Minhyuk tells him seriously. “They serve the best yukgaejang there. No other place on campus makes it like Hyejin-ssi. She makes it with _love,_ dammit. I never eat anywhere else, and I never will, and I’ve been here for all 3 years.”

This is when they make it back to the group, and despite walking into a little huddle of people he might not know, Minhyuk takes it in stride in a way that Jooheon has never been able to do. 

“Hyunwoo-hyung! Don’t you think that dining hall between the Arts & Sciences building and the Language building is the best on campus?”

Hyunwoo blinks up from Changkyun sleepily, but his face breaks out into a sweet smile when he realizes who is with Jooheon. “Minhyuk? I thought you went home for the weekend.”

“Nah, Seokwon was the one who went home!”

Jooheon knows by the way Minhyuk phrases it that he probably already told Hyunwoo this information a few times, but isn’t mad that Hyunwoo forgot; that’s when he feels himself really begin to fall off of the edge.

“Oh, that’s right. And yeah- that place is the best on campus.” 

They spend a few moments hyping it up, and somehow, it ends in all seven of them promising to meet up and get lunch one upcoming day. All it means to Jooheon is that he’s going to see and hang out with Minhyuk again when it’s not the middle of the night and when they’re in real clothes and daylight and his brain short circuits.

At one point, the firefighters finally arrive with the police and begin to do a sweep through the building. Everyone gives half-assed cheers when they go inside, and as if to agree, another gust of wind sweeps through the lot. More moans and groans echo back, and this time, Jooheon has the utmost pleasure of watching Hyungwon and Hoseok beg for death and tighten their arms around each other and watching Changkyun and Kihyun swear colorfully and press their heads together.

“Hey, I don’t actually know whose jacket I’m wearing right now.” Minhyuk announces, once the shouts of pain have died down again. “I thought it might be Jooheon’s, but now I’m thinking not so much.”

To prove his point, Minhyuk lifts the sleeves up, which extend way past his hands, and wiggles them for emphasis.

“I don’t think it’s yours or yours,” he points over at Changkyun and Kihyun, who just glare pitifully at him. “Or yours, Hoseok-hyung, since I’ve seen you standing up before and we’re almost the same height.”

He looks down at Hyungwon thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen you standing up before, Hyungwon. Are you tall?”

They all start laughing at this, and when Hyunwoo says almost painfully: “He’s taller than me, Minhyuk,” Minhyuk also starts laughing. 

It’s incredible how easily Minhyuk fits into their weird little group. Maybe it helps that he already knew Hyunwoo from their floor, and Hoseok from their shared Psychology class, but the way that he’s already engaging Hyungwon in the conversation, or making fun of how small Kihyun is and getting away with it, or making Changkyun laugh at him is amazing to Jooheon. Only Hoseok gets Hyungwon alive and alert early in the morning; only Hyunwoo gets away with calling Kihyun short, since it’s always unintentional or some cute, dorky joke that Kihyun can’t ever get mad at; and it took Changkyun _weeks_ to warm up to Jooheon and Hyungwon when he first met them, straight out of living in America for all of high school, and it was a combined effort to get him to so much as _smile_.

So Jooheon is both stunned and not surprised at all when he finds himself inviting Minhyuk over to their apartment. “I know we’re all already going to lunch together this week, but on Friday nights, everyone usually comes over to our apartment and we all eat take-out and play games. You can come up if you want to, and bring hyung’s jacket with you.” 

Minhyuk’s smile basically rises the sun into the early morning sky. “Hell yeah, I’ll come! That sounds really fun!”

Jooheon tries to give him another genuine smile and a smooth “Cool,” but it comes out more garbled and breathless than he’d like. He feels someone kick his ankle, and when he looks down, Hyungwon is giving him a shit-eating grin, and Hoseok is silently laughing. Jooheon subtly flips them off, and suddenly regrets ever fucking with them about their feelings for each other.

“We’re in 318,” Changkyun tells him, since Jooheon has suddenly lost the ability to function like a normal human being. “Usually we start it around 7, and you have to bring something to share with everyone or else you’ll be blacklisted.” 

“No he won’t, Changkyun,” Hyunwoo says, tiredly, but Changkyun makes a cutting motion over his throat with a thumb.

“Hyung, let me have this, or I’ll tell the entire complex your little ‘secret’.”

Minhyuk looks over at Hyunwoo. “Oh yeah- Jooheon told me you had a funny story I might enjoy. Is that what Changkyun’s talking about?”

Hyunwoo looks pained at the reminder that they’re all outside because of him, and Jooheon starts laughing immediately, along with the others. He almost tries to skip over the question, eyes glancing wildly around at the other residents, but Minhyuk’s open, hopeful face makes him crumble.

“I may or may not have… set the fire alarm off while trying to make pizza rolls… at 3 am… and then fell asleep while waiting for them to… finish.”

They all wait for Minhyuk to lose his shit and expose Hyunwoo as the monster the other boys are all out to get, and he does laugh, but it’s quiet, only at a level that the six of them can hear, and then-

He winks at Hyunwoo, and squishes his thumb and forefinger together before pulling them across his mouth.

“Your secret’s safe with me, hyung. I won’t tell anyone else it was you.” Hyunwoo lets out a small sigh of relief, and gives Minhyuk an equally relieved smile, but then Minhyuk finishes with: “I know you’d love to help with my Calculus homework in exchange for my vow of silence. We can start tomorrow after we get out of class.” 

Kihyun lets out an amazed laugh, and Hyungwon tells Hyunwoo: “You’re going to be fucked for life, hyung,” and Jooheon-

If Jooheon thought he was in trouble before, it’s nothing compared to how he feels now, knowing that Minhyuk looks like the sun and is also capable of literally blackmailing someone older than him for keeping quiet.

He possibly loses consciousness for a while, because somewhere in between staring at Minhyuk in wonder, and the firemen leaving, Jooheon realizes that they’re able to go back inside the apartment building. Everyone is cheering again and shuffling frozenly towards the entrance, but he doesn’t actually move until Minhyuk touches his shoulder with a considerably warmer hand.

When Jooheon is able to focus on his words again, he hears Minhyuk telling him: “Thanks again for bringing me a jacket. I actually might have died without it.”

“Of course, hyung,” Jooheon says softly, and Minhyuk’s smile is suddenly shyer, more private.

“I’ll see you for game night, okay?”

“Okay." 

Minhyuk licks his lips. “Before I go inside- what’s your favorite snack?”

Jooheon doesn’t even know what food is at this current moment in time, and so he forces himself to break eye contact and think through the haze of sleepiness and whatever is going on when he looks at Minhyuk’s lips. 

It takes him longer than it should to remember that one of his favorite snacks is “Choco Pies,” and less than a second for Minhyuk to say “Okay, I’ll see you on Friday with some Choco Pies,” and give his shoulder a soft squeeze. And then he’s gone, making a beeline for the warmth of their building, and bumping his arm into Hyunwoo’s. Jooheon watches them exchange a few words, Minhyuk laughing when Hyunwoo hangs his head and rubs at the back of his neck, and jolts when he turns to give Jooheon a final wave with one of Hyungwon’s ridiculously long sleeves. 

Changkyun comes up to him after they wrestle Hyungwon and Hoseok off of the ground (and each other), his first time stepping away from Kihyun the entire time they’ve been outside. He’s got his own version of a shit-eating grin on his face, and Jooheon feels his ears burn.

“Don’t, Changkyun,” he pleads, and Changkyun immediately ignores him to say “Jooheonnie, you’re the most obvious person in the world. You’re worse than Hoseok-hyung!”

This earns the youngest a sharp “Yah!” from Hoseok and a slap to the chest, but it doesn’t deter him from teasing Jooheon.

“You didn’t stop looking at Minhyuk-hyung from the second you brought him over, did you know that?” 

Hyungwon decides to throw in his two cents. “Yeah, you’re always giving us all shit for no reason, but you should have seen yourself. It was really fucking funny.”

“ _No reason_ -”

Kihyun cuts him off by slinging the arm he previously had around Changkyun’s hips around Jooheon’s shoulders. “We’ve already placed bets, so you better not let Changkyunnie and I down.”

Jooheon grouches out something unintelligible, and to avoid further harassment, rockets ahead of them into the apartment building. He wordlessly begins sprinting up the stairs to the 3rd floor, and tries to ignore the laughter coming from his dumbass friends and their dumbass hypocrisy. 

He decides that what he really needs is some more sleep. Sleep will keep him away from the other four, and sleep will also help him re-establish himself as the king of teasing his friends and their reluctance to just fucking ask each other out.

Changkyun and Hyungwon come back into the apartment only a few minutes after him, but aside from them throwing out various versions of “Good night, lover boy,” through his bedroom door, they leave him alone. Jooheon’s able to fall back into a fitful sleep at 4:06 am, what the _fuck_ , but his plan to regain the most stable, assured headspace is pretty much ruined when all he dreams about is Minhyuk’s glowing smile.

When he stumbles back out of bed to head to class, Changkyun looks up from his cereal, and grins wildly.

Jooheon leaves with Changkyun’s satanic laughing following behind him.  

**_~.~.~_ **

Just as he promised, Minhyuk shows up to game night at seven with two boxes of Choco Pies and a bright smile.

Jooheon answers the door when he knocks, all jumping nerves and wobbly knees. When he sees Minhyuk in front of him, with Jooheon’s favorite snack in his arms and a beautiful grin stretched across his face, Jooheon wonders if it’s too early to say he’s in love with him.

“Hi, Minhyuk-hyung!” Changkyun calls from where they’re setting up the game on the coffee table.

Minhyuk looks past Jooheon’s shoulder to wave back. “Hi, Changkyunnie!”

When Jooheon looks over at Changkyun, too, his smile shifts into an infuriating smirk. Minhyuk misses it while trying to get his shoes off, but Jooheon sends him an _I’ll end you_ message without saying anything out loud. Changkyun just subtly gives him the finger. 

Minhyuk sets the Choco Pies down on the dining room table where all of the other snacks have been piled together, and then goes over to the coffee table.

“ _Monopoly_?” he asks, laughing a little, and Hoseok nods up at him. “Wow, I can’t believe we’re playing the most bloodthirsty game on my first night here. Starting off strong- I like it.”

Kihyun gives him a playful smile. “I always win at _Monopoly,_ so don’t get your hopes up, hyung.”

“I always win at _Monopoly_ too, Kihyun-ah.” Minhyuk’s grin turns a little devious. “We’ll see who’s the better mastermind when you’re bankrupt and I have hotels on every property on the board.”  

This instigates some light banter while everyone grabs some food and settles in around the table- Hoseok trying to sneak food off of Kihyun’s plate, Changkyun and Hyunwoo fighting over who gets to be the thimble, Hyungwon saying that Minhyuk forgot his jacket on purpose to be invited back- and somehow, Jooheon ends up sitting next to Minhyuk on the floor. Everything from their thighs to their shoulders are touching, and Jooheon tries his best to ignore the look that Hyungwon is giving him through a mouthful of fish cakes.

Before they begin, as Kihyun is setting up the bank and distributing their money, Minhyuk suddenly holds his pinky out towards Jooheon. When Jooheon gives him a confused look, Minhyuk smiles.

“I promise I won’t double cross you,” Minhyuk tells him. “For lending me a jacket and keeping me alive.”

Jooheon snorts and links their pinkies together, but chokes very audibly on his bean sprouts when Minhyuk lifts their pinkies up to his mouth and kisses them.

Changkyun swears out loud in English, but Minhyuk seems to not hear him, and instead gives Jooheon another dazzling grin. 

Jooheon doesn’t know if he’ll survive the night without dying or kissing Lee Minhyuk on his beautiful goddamn face.

When the game starts and Kihyun, somehow, immediately fucks Jooheon over, he accepts that he probably won’t survive, and just hopes for the best while Minhyuk squirms next to him and tries to avenge him by kicking Kihyun’s ass.

_**~.~.~** _

The game lasts hours and hours and by the time it’s time for everyone to go home, they’re all drunk on food and laughter and a little bit of soju that Hyunwoo brought up. 

Kihyun is forced to give up his position of _Monopoly_ King when Minhyuk ends up completely destroying him, but he doesn’t look as put-out as Jooheon imagined he would. Jooheon’s not even mad that Minhyuk totally went against their pinky promise and pretty much stole all of his money when Jooheon was least expecting it. He stupidly finds it kind of hot.

When Jooheon shows him to the door, Minhyuk tells him: “Sorry I broke your trust, Jooheonie. I promise I’ll take it easier on you next time.” 

And when Jooheon says “No, you won’t,” Minhyuk readily agrees “No, I won’t,” and Jooheon can’t help but smile stupidly at him.

“It’s okay, Minhyuk-hyung- it’ll be worth it to lose all the time to watch you slowly and surely break Kihyun-hyung’s spirits by beating him at everything he usually beats us all at.”

Minhyuk laughs, surprised. “I can’t believe how sadistic you are under all your giggling and those dimples.”

“Looks like you’re already rubbing off on me,” Jooheon says without thinking, and Minhyuk flushes. “Wait, I didn’t mean-”

Minhyuk’s looking at him with a weird combination of amusement and something that takes him by surprise: hope. It’s the same kind of look that he sees whenever Hyungwon says something dorky and Hoseok just looks up at him and laughs, or whenever Kihyun comes over to make dinner with them and Changkyun sneaks looks at him in between cutting up vegetables and teasing Kihyun about whatever he can think of.

He feels fear gripping his stomach like a cold hand, but the hope on Minhyuk’s face soothes it, and Jooheon suddenly thinks to himself _I don’t want to spend months hoping and chasing after him_.  

So he braces himself, and after taking a deep breath, gives Minhyuk a small and hopeful smile, and asks: “Would you like to get dinner with me?”

Minhyuk’s breath catches between them, almost inaudible if Jooheon hadn’t already been so far into his space. “Like- go on a date?”

And even though every single part of Jooheon’s brain is telling him to stop and turn back now, he makes himself nod and say “Yeah, like a date.”

A smile even more beautiful and huge and stunning forms on Minhyuk’s already-shining face, and Jooheon’s knees almost buckle when he nods. “Yeah, that sounds like fun. I’d love to!”

“Okay, that’s- okay. Good. Cool. How about tomorrow night? Is that okay? I could come get you around seven and we could walk downtown for dinner.”

“That sounds perfect.” Minhyuk almost whispers it, and then because he wants Jooheon dead, apparently, leans in and kisses him softly on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for inviting me to game night.”

Jooheon barely remembers to say something back. “Yeah, of course. Good night, hyung.” 

Minhyuk smiles and slips out of the front door, and when he closes it behind him softly, Jooheon resists the urge to bang his head against it.

Instead, the most serene feeling fills his entire body up, head to toe, and he turns around with a whoop. When he gets back into the living room, the others are all staring at him, _Monopoly_ still spread across the coffee table.

“What’s wrong with you?” Changkyun asks drily.

“I’m going on a date with Lee Minhyuk!” Jooheon yells, and all five of their calm faces turn into ones of shock.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Hyungwon all but shouts this, and then Kihyun jumps to his feet and points down at him.

“Aha! I fucking called it! I knew it’d be less than a month! Pay up, Sasquatch- you too, Blondie. I want that shit on my desk by Monday morning.”

Changkyun gets to his feet, as well, and then he and Kihyun are jumping up and down together. “We know what the fuck is up, hyung!” 

Through all the chaos of Kihyun and Changkyun collecting their bet money from Hyungwon and Hoseok, Jooheon goes up to Hyunwoo and bends down to grab him by the face.

“Thank you for setting the building on fire, hyung,” he tells Hyunwoo, and then plants a big, loud kiss on his forehead. 

Hyunwoo groans, and half-assedly tells Jooheon to get off of him, but Jooheon can see and feel the big smile on his face. “I’m glad you’re going on a date, Jooheonie. He hasn’t shut up about you since I fucked up.” 

“Yeah, no kidding,” Hoseok says, still smiling despite the fact that Kihyun and Changkyun have taken all of his money. “Good thing you didn’t make a bet with Kihyun-ah at all or you wouldn’t be going on a date at all.” 

Changkyun cackles. “That was just for one of them asking each other out, hyung- we still have that bet about how long it’s going to take them to bang, remember?”

Jooheon picks the dog game piece up and throws it directly at Changkyun’s head. “Shut up, Changkyun- I think _you_ should be focusing on when you and Kihyun-hyung are going to finally bang.”  

Kihyun makes a distressed noise, and after a moment of silence, Hyunwoo holds his hands up. 

“Just so we’re all clear, I’m not setting the fire alarm off again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty gang, I hope that was okay-ish lmao 
> 
> Please leave feedback if you think I need to tweak anyone's personality/the way I write them since I'm still getting used to it!!! 
> 
> I hope you guys have a wonderful day/night :-) 
> 
> (pls talk to me about Lee Jooheon on Twitter @ jjaetuan, or on Tumblr @ jaetuan, and pls follow my friend Olive on Twitter @ yookihyunnieX and my friend Sae on Twitter @ hsixlhs since they're the best Monbebes I know and mmaayyy or maaayy not fill the Changki sized hole in my heart)


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